Poll Finds Marathon Bombings Changed Boston

With the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15th a new poll of Massachusetts residents finds a strong majority—73 percent -- believe the attack changed the city in a lasting way.

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Of those who said the attack had altered the city, sixty-two percent said the change was for the better, according to the Western New England University Poll. Polling director Tim Vercellotti said people mentioned a surge in civic pride and a feeling of unity that followed the bombing.

" Folks would talk about the Boston Strong campaign and a few brought up the World Series and the Red Sox victory as a way of healing the city and bringing it back and just giving a stronger more positive sense of community in Boston as a way of finding a silver lining in, of course, a very dark cloud."

The poll found the state about evenly divided on whether bombing suspect Dzhokar Tsnaraev should get the death penalty if convicted.